'Elroy is amazing' - Motsau, Mofokeng, Munnik and Slinger. How Gelant inspired Potch Track Club to successful 2024.
After a magnificent 2024 season that saw him win the national half marathon and marathon titles while clocking his first sub 28 minute 10km and producing an 11th place finish in the Olympic Marathon, Elroy Gelant will be one of the frontrunners to win the Male Athlete of the Year Award at the Athletics South Africa Awards in January. The long distance runner will have stiff competition from sprinter Akani Simbine who claimed fourth place in the Olympic 100m final and led the men’s 4x100m relay team to a silver medal - South Africa’s very first track and field Olympic relay podium finish.
Although Simbine's personal accolades this season which also included securing a seventh national 100m title and a new national record (9.82 in that Olympic final in Paris), perhaps Gelant may have a slight edge in what his personal performances have done for his training partners. Since rediscovering the form he showed when he set the SA 5000m record in 2016 (3:04.88), the 38-year-old has inspired his fellow athletes at the Potch Track Club to greater heights.
In April 34-year-old Jerry Motsau rolled back the years and won his first national 1500m title in a decade. Six months later Puseletso Mofokeng ran a new marathon lifetime best when he claimed a maiden top ten finish at the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. Mofokeng who joined the North West-based training group last year, achieved 2:13:31 at the Abbot World Marathon Majors Candidate Race to secure the final gold medal and praised Gelant for his leadership.
"Since I joined coach Jean Verster's group at the Potchefstroom Track Club, things have changed. I think everyone has seen how Elroy has been performing this year. He is an inspiration to many athletes in our country. To be around him in training is motivation alone. Plus in our group, we push each other achieve more in life."
1500m specialist Luan Munnik set a new 10km personal best (29:32) when he ran under 30 minutes for the first time at the LetsGo Potch Marathon and then bested a quality field to win the Thembisa Mile (4:03) the following day. A fortnight later, the 24-year-old outlasted his teammate Gelant in a tight finish to win the Boxer Super Run Tshwane 5km at the University of Pretoria. Having started out as a track specialist and hailing from a long line of track runners, Munnik is now showing more promise as a road runner. He says Gelant’s positive influence on the group undeniable.
"Elroy is amazing. Our training group fit and fast and they are all looking good all the way up to Elroy, so it’s a great place to train," he told #TheTopRunner.
Munnik's sentiments were echoed by Ian Slinger who this season, begun to deliver on his considerable talent. After announcing himself as a good prospect with a 29:02 clocking at the 2021 Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K and then following that up with a 62:55 21km performance at the 2022 Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon, Slinger found 2023 less productive. But he bounced back in 2024 with an impressive marathon debut, taking eighth position in 2:20:52 at last month’s African Bank Soweto Marathon, where the experienced Gelant ran with him for more than two thirds of the race.
"I'm very happy with the performance. We came and hit our target of 2:20. It was all about running a consistent pace. Having Elroy there with me played a massive role. It helped me mentally to be patient because normally in the beginning of the race you feel a bit jumpy and you wanna go. But he was the one telling me to just relax, stay focused and not worry about what the other guys are doing because it's me against the course. So that helped me a lot."
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